“Come down from that tree…”

I like to blend in; I fit easily in a crowd, unnoticed. I had heard so many things about Jesus, and I just wanted to catch a glimpse of this charismatic Man.
I saw the perfect tree ~ easy enough to climb to get a little height. I didn’t have time to think about it.
Jesus would be walking by, any minute…surrounded by the eager crowd.
For once, I wasn’t thinking about what anyone else would think. I knew that everyone else was focused on catching a glimpse on this famous Jesus.

From my perch in the tree, I still felt lost in the crowd.
I guess that’s why at first it didn’t register thatJesus was looking at me.Then He was speaking to me.He called me by name. No, He wasn’t calling someone else behind me
…I checked.
He called me by name, asking me to come down quickly from the tree.
He announced ~ in front of the whole crowd ~ that He would be coming to my house.
Still in disbelief that He was indeed addressing me, my mind began to race to recall the state of my house.
I had left in a hurry that morning…late again.

My home wasn’t ready for company…let alone this company…Jesus!
Suddenly, I was jolted back to the present as I was warmed by His penetrating gaze.
He wasn’t coming to my house to assess my housekeeping skills.

Right now, He was assessing my soul…my eagerness to draw close to Him, my desire to follow Him,
learn from Him, serve Him and reflect His Love…my yearning to accept His unconditional Love.

He knows that I climbed that tree to catch a glimpse of Him: how deep does my gaze go?
How much can I read from His gentle Face? How much can I take in, in that glimpse?

He asks me “what do you see when you look at Me?”
He listens intently as I answer Him…